A Family Thought
by Dulcis Marionette
Summary: In the small mental facility, the banished gazed back at the prodigy. The risen to the fallen. //Post Sozin's Comet, Zuko and Azula - NOT ZUCEST.


**A Family Thought**

_**Summary**__: In the small mental facility, The banished gazed back at the prodigy. The risen to the fallen._

_I've been working on the first chapter of Loose Ends, but I just couldn't get this idea out of my mind - especially with my own big brother who came back home for a visit since he's done with his military training. It wouldn't let me write Loose Ends until I did this._

_So here's some Fire Nation family angst, centered around the brother and sister __**Not Zucest**__, this is __**family time**__._

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Screams had reached his ears first as he turned to look at her, supported by his waterbending ally.

Hot, blue fire had been blasted every which way, metal chains clinking continuously in her struggle.

The trapped girl, his sister, was kneeling in defeat as only screams, flames, and sobs escaped from her entrapment cleverly made by the companion next to him. The large drops of tears continuously falling into the water below had given him a small pang of pity for her, but it didn't last.

That was how twisted his family was. Jealousy was a common feeling he got when he saw the Water Tribe siblings happily hug their father, a feeling he was familiar with when passing families so unlike his were laughing, getting along with one another.

His own footsteps resounded throughout the plain hallways, a psychiatrist walking a few paces behind him with a few of his guards, just in case anything went out of hand. They didn't want their young Fire Lord to lose his life, especially in such a place.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

The sound of his boots was drowned out by the images and thoughts in his mind.

He remembered seeing families, of course. They would laugh together, smile at one another. Zuko had spotted a few when he stopped by restaurants to fill his empty stomach with nourishment after a long time of travel.

A family is a group that was recognized as close and happy.

His family was in no means, happy.

But he just had a feeling, deep inside of him that needed to see how she was doing in such a place. He hated her, that was a truth, since she was just as bad as his father who he could not forgive.

She had thrived off of his misery, sucked up each and every moment of grief in his life and smiled while causing it.

But now as the blunt sound of leather against ground slowed, he kept his arms at his sides, stiff. His golden eyes glanced at the large metal door now to his right. The psychiatrist, one of the workers at the facility, motioned him towards the door, allowing him to open it.

His hand reached out and he did so, stepping in.

He couldn't tell if the transparent pane was glass or plastic, but it was probably specially set so people on the outside could observe her, but she was not able to see them.

Her black hair was still in its messy state, bangs completely uneven. Restraints were kept on here, metal settled over her hands so she would not be able to firebend. If she did so, it'd take a long time to even **try** to possibly get through the material and she'd probably burn her own hands beyond repair before she could do such a thing.

Truly, Azula of the Fire Nation was certainly at her lowest.

Her older brother who was now Fire Lord - a position she had been wishing to have for so long - stared at her, trying not to let any emotion through. There were many he felt towards the obsidian-haired girl, two years his junior. The one that shared the same mother and father as he.

Azula sat there against the corner, eyes looking down at the ground of the cell that held her captive. If she looked up, he would see the same color of gold that his eyes had; a common trait among those of Fire Nation blood.

He took a light intake of breath, a furrow of his brow, when the one who shared the same blood that ran through his veins glanced up. As he had known, yellow eyes stared back at him.

Before, those eyes held a horrible, evil glint that promised pain for anyone that stood in her way.

This time they were blank. A small twitch was seen on Azula's right eye, either from being tired physically, or mentally, he did not know.

He wondered if it was right to leave her insane, sitting in a cold room like that. For all that she had done, Azula deserved it. She and his sire should have died that day, but the Avatar--no, Aang...had found a way not to kill, and his morals stayed with him.

Zuko was a bit of a stranger to such a moral, as if it were him in Aang's place, he _would _have ended that man's life, right then and there.

Even if killing was not the right path that _anyone _should choose.

He had learned that thoroughly with the visit to the Southern Raiders.

But he couldn't forgive, not the man who he used to really see as a father. As Katara had put it, forgiving wasn't also hard...it was impossible, when it came to certain circumstances.

But he thought about it again, with Azula, he wasn't too sure. She was raised by that man, and by studies from the medics that tended to her now, she believed that their beloved mother had no affection towards her at all.

Who wouldn't be a bit messed up from such? He was surprised that he didn't turn out just as bad, but he had the guidance of his uncle that helped him along the way.

If it wasn't for the old General, the "Dragon of the West", he would be in jail like his sire, or in this very same institute as Azula. That was a scary thought...would destiny have really turned out that way if he had went down the wrong path?

_Destiny is a funny thing._

She had felt alone, as he had when he was a...false prince, going back to the Fire Nation after betraying his uncle...It didn't feel right. To Azula, maybe it didn't feel right here but she needed it, badly. Somewhere inside of him, pity went out to the girl trapped like a caged animal.

The banished gazed back at the prodigy. The risen to the fallen.

He felt that it was odd how she looked straight at him, as if she really could see him, but he knew she couldn't. Maybe she sensed it?

Maybe 'family' had that sort of thing?

Most likely not _his._

He frowned once before turning his back to her, strolling away from the image of his 'family' left in that cell of the asylum. The guards that patrolled the area, keeping watch of her for this shift as all guards in the area did 24/7 saluted him.

"Sir? Is that all?"

Zuko nodded to the employee that had guided him, knowing he probably wouldn't question him. The man blinked in confusion before ignoring any questions that had probably filled his mind, as Zuko expected.

Idly, as he left the vicinities of the mental institute, he thought as he had been doing the whole day and throughout the whole visit to the small, secured island.

Perhaps in another universe, Azula and he could have been a real brother and sister, with a normal, functional family...

He could only wonder.

* * *

_Why did I write this? _

_**1) I felt bad for Azula during the finale. She's a bitch and everything, but...With the Mirror!Ursa scene and how she was crying and everything, my heart sort of went out to her. **_

_**2) Family is a deep thing for me. I have some annoyance problems with my siblings especially, and always feel like I hate them and at times, when I want them dead. But I know that deep down, I wouldn't ever want that to happen to them, no matter how angry I am at them, or no matter how many faults they have.**_

_I'm glad that I made this, because it makes me rethink about my family and how its compared to Zuko's with how jacked up his is. It's one of those things that makes you feel glad for what you have. _

_Hope you enjoyed, review if you'd like._

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End file.
